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Like so many other public colleges, mine is reducing personnel to match reduced budgets. (To its credit, it isn't reducing faculty.) That means that I've been absorbed in some Very Unbloggable Conversations over the last couple of weeks. It also means that I've seen the return of the space invaders.

Nicholas Carr writes that he "… feel(s) sorry for the kids at Cushing Academy." Cushing is the New England prep school that is substituting digital for print in its school library. In an open letter Cushing parents, alumni, and friends, Headmaster James Tracy writes:

A new correspondent writes:I am Nursing faculty at a community college, in only my 2nd year in the academic world. This semester I am a member of the 'Appeals/Advisory' committee, which consist of representative faculty from throughout our program, and the Directors of Nursing. I subbed on this committee at the end of the last semester, when we had 2 marathon days of listening to student stories of why they should be allowed to continue in the program (usually after 2 failures which, according to our policy, means dismissal unless the Appeals committee decides otherwise).

The other day my CIO asked me, "So exactly how much time do you spend each day blogging?" Maybe not a question you want your boss asking in these times of fiscal constraint. But I was able to answer immediately and truthfully: 30 minutes.

No, not Frank Zappa. Well, maybe Zappa, too, but that's not what I meant.What I meant was perceived necessity. Not necessity proper, but the perception of it.If a need is real but no one recognizes it, no invention is stimulated. If a need is imaginary but perceived, invention is likely to occur. It's not the necessity, it's the perception.

After blogging at this site for well over a year, I start to fear that I'll repeat myself. And, sure enough, when I sat down to write a post about knitting, I discovered that I'd done it before. That earlier post was a pep talk of sorts, a reminder to myself that I need to make time for things I love that aren't directly related to my work.

I didn’t do my homework yet! I have an excuse, my back has gone out, or is half-way out. The lab is in a few hours, but I’ll get it done during my lunch hour because even a sciencoramus like me knows that a course like Energy and the Environment is incremental and that without the foundation, I can forget understanding anything else.

I’m beginning to think that the lab for the course won’t offer as much fun as I hoped with, I’m realizing, few opportunities to blow shit up (despite the fact that I’ll have to wear retro-groovy protective glasses). Before I get to see if my worst fears will be realized, however, I have to read the “Math Review” section of the course’s Lab Manual in preparation for the first lab Monday. But first, a review of my own math seems in order.

A day after our December commencement exercises and two days after a 24” snowstorm, I am on an airplane flying to Hawaii. At this and every other commencement, I always watch the parade of graduates – from the bachelor’s level to the doctorate- march across the stage. And as they march, I wonder whether we have done all that we can do to provide an education that will serve their needs and society’s needs.

The Girl lost her first tooth on Sunday! It came out while she was eating pancakes. She spent the rest of the day beaming with gap-toothed pride. ----TW is redoing the downstairs bathroom, which involved buying a new top for the sink. The sinktop came in a huge cardboard box, which, as any parent of young children can tell you, is an irresistibly tempting toy for young kids. Naturally, TG and TB descended upon the box, and set about making a fort of it in the family room.